Liverpool's Mohamed Salah injury replacement is already at the club

Cameron Smith

• 19 Jan 2024 09:49 GMT
• 4 min read

Luis Diaz’s first six months at Liverpool were simply spectacular and the Colombian arguably became the most dangerous left-winger in the entire Premier League upon his arrival at Anfield.

His knee injury in October 2022, however, stunted his progress massively and he hasn’t looked like the same player since.

Diaz’s dynamism and dribbling ability were his two greatest attributes and while he bagged four goals and three assists in his first 13 Premier League games, it was the ex-Porto man’s ability to beat his full-back one-vs-one that caught the eye the most.

As a result, his injury hampered his game massively and while his return to fitness saw him reintegrated at Liverpool, Diaz hasn’t looked the same player that tore Premier League defences to shreds during his opening months on Merseyside. That is until now.

Diaz only has one goal and one assist in his last 17 Premier League games, but he is now beginning to find his feet and Mohamed Salah’s unfortunate hamstring injury at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations could provide the Colombian with the perfect opportunity to stamp his authority at Anfield once again.

On 7 January, the 26-year-old capped off an impressive display against Arsenal in the FA Cup with a 95th minute strike that sealed a 2-0 win for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Diaz put the finishing touch on a deadly counter-attack, smashing the ball into the roof of the net with pinpoint accuracy to bag his sixth goal of the season in all competitions.

Luis Diaz’s recent Liverpool form

After providing an assist against Burnley on 26 December, Diaz then caught the eye again in Liverpool’s 4-2 win over Newcastle on New Years’ Day; even though he didn’t register a goal contribution, his pre-assist for Mohamed Salah’s first goal was excellent and he looked back to his dynamic best.

Further proof of that comes via the fact Diaz completed the most dribbles of any Liverpool player against Burnley and Arsenal (eight), while he also won the most duels of any player vs Arsenal (seven) too.

With one goal and one assist in his past four appearances, Diaz still has a long way to go to match Salah’s incredible final-third output, but the Colombia international looked dangerous on the right flank in the second-half against Arsenal and could become Klopp’s go-to man while the Egyptian is injured.

When at his best, Diaz is a hard player to stop and recent evidence suggests that he could well be back to his pre-injury level.

Salah may not be available until mid-February and Diaz needs to step up given Darwin Nunez’s struggles in front of goal.

The early proof suggests he is capable of becoming Liverpool’s main man and 2024 promises to be a huge year for the supremely-talented Colombian winger.